her."

"And of course it would hardly do to announce that I had counselled a
certain procedure of divorce and re-marriage--no matter how flagrant the
abuse, nor how obvious the spiritual equity of the step. People at large
are so little analytical."

"'Flexible,' Mr. Browett told his sister you were. He was right--you
_are_ flexible, Allan--more so than I ever suspected."

"Nance--you _please_ me--you are a good girl. Now I'm going up to
Bernal. Bernal certainly pleases me. Of course I shall do the handsome
thing by him if he acts along the lines our talk has indicated."

She still sat in the falling dusk, in the chair she had taken two hours
before, when Aunt Bell came in, dressed for dinner.

"Mercy, child! Do you know how late it is?"

"What did you say, Aunt Bell?"

"I say do you know how late it is?"

"Oh--not too late!"

"Not too late--for what?"

There was a pause, then she said: "Aunt Bell, when a woman comes to make
her very last effort at self-deception, why does she fling herself into
it with such abandon--such pretentious flourishes of remorse--and